Rocky Hill Posts 1.5% Growth In Grand List

ROCKY HILL — The value of taxable property grew by 1.5 percent last year, rebounding some from the dramatic plunge in 2013 created by the recession-fueled revaluation.

Valuations of all categories of property totaled $2.02 billion under the October 2014 grand list, increasing nearly $30 million from the prior year. Real estate valuations, which make up some 87 percent of the list's total, rose from $1.73 to $1.75 billion, or 1.3 percent.

The overall increase in valuation was "more than modest. It's a really good improvement, '' Town Manager Guy Scaife said.

The growth, particularly in the personal property classification, reflected an improvement in business climate, as inventories are being restocked and new equipment purchased. "There's a fair amount of activity going on,'' he said.

The grand list will be used by Scaife in estimating local tax revenues needed to fund the 2015-16 town budget he will recommend to the town council.

Scaife and Town Assessor Stuart Topliff are assuming that by March 31, as adjustments are made by board of assessment appeals or negotiated in court, the grand list will be reduced about $2 million, bringing annual increase down to 1.4 percent.

The 2013 grand list, based on the revaluation completed Oct. 1 of that year, saw real estate values fall by more than 9 percent.

Home values led the decline, with single-family homes and condos experiencing double-digit drops. By contrast, farms, apartment buildings and some commercial buildings increased in value, causing a shift in the tax burden that was largely responsible for the more than two dozen tax appeals brought last year to Superior Court. Many of those remain pending.